Southern Arizona's two congressional Democrats re-elected; could be joined by the third

With just tens of thousands of ballots left to count, two of the Southern Arizona’s Democratic elected officials will head back to Congress, and the third is in line to join them.

Democrats Rep. Raúl Grijalva and Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick cruised to reelection, with The Associated Press calling both races late Tuesday. Democrat Tom O’Halleran maintained his lead into Wednesday afternoon. Grijalva, 72, secured his 10th congressional term after defeating Republican Daniel Wood, Iraq War veteran and ex-police officer, in the race for the 3rd congressional district. Grijalva had 65% of the vote, as of noon Wednesday, more than 67,000 votes ahead of Wood.

Kirkpatrick, 70, who will enter her fifth term representing Arizona in Congress, and second in the 2nd congressional district, had already collected 57% of the vote, as of noon Wednesday. That was roughly 46,000 votes ahead of Republican Brandon Martin, a veteran.

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O’Halleran, 74, had 52% of the vote, as of noon Wednesday morning, amounting to a 13,500-vote lead over Tiffany Shedd, a Republican lawyer and cotton farmer from Eloy. Grijalva has represented his district, which includes the western part of Tucson and extends to the U.S.-Mexico and Arizona-California borders, since 2003. He’s a staunch opponent of President Trump and construction of a border wall, and has served as the chair of the Natural Resources Committee since 2019.

Kirkpatrick took over her district, which extends from eastern Pima County to the U.S.-Mexico border, and includes two military bases, in 2019 after a failed run for U.S. Senate and previously represented Arizona’s 1st congressional district from 2009 to 2011 and 2013 to 2017. She’s been a member of the House’s appropriations committee, where she’s been able to secure funding for infrastructure projects in Arizona.

O’Halleran, a former Republican state senator who switched to the Democratic party in 2015, is seeking his third term representing Arizona’s largest district, which encompasses the outskirts of Tucson and the majority of eastern Arizona. He’s billed himself as a centrist Democrat, and has focused his campaigning on how the pandemic has adversely affected his district, which includes the Navajo Nation.